Murder suspect, prosecutor duel

Defendant again denies shooting Eddie Stanley at chaotic house party

Published 10:40 pm, Friday, March 15, 2013

James Wells, 31, of Brooklyn was charged July 11 with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Eddie Stanley, 15, in Schenectady. (Schenectady Police Department photo)

James Wells, 31, of Brooklyn was charged July 11 with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Eddie Stanley, 15, in Schenectady. (Schenectady Police Department photo)

Murder suspect, prosecutor duel

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SCHENECTADY — At the urging of the prosecutor, James "H-O" Wells stood in the witness stand and demonstrated for jurors how he clutched the .357 magnum pistol along the right side of his body while trying to see if there were bullet holes in the front door of 730 Bridge St.

The Brooklyn drug dealer, on trial for murder in the June 2011 shooting of Schenectady High School basketball player Eddie Stanley, on Friday recalled his panicked reaction after hearing gunfire followed by the lights going off and then back on as he stood at the bottom of the stairs near the door in the cramped stairwell.

He denied, during a full day of cross-examination by Chief Assistant District Attorney Philip Mueller, that he ever had a .44 caliber revolver at the time or that he killed anyone.

"At no point in time did I have two guns," he told Mueller as the prosecutor displayed the .44 caliber gun.

The prosecution contends Wells, now 33 and a member of the Bloods street gang, shot the 15-year-old Stanley at least four times with two guns after a fight broke out in the stairwell of the residence when one of the youngsters at the party refused to be frisked as Wells and his friends from Brooklyn searched for rental car keys one of them had misplaced.

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The defense maintains one of Wells' buddies, Jeremy Battle, known as "J," had the .44 caliber revolver in his hands seconds before the deadly shooting. Stanley died at the hospital.

"So you didn't see 'J' with this gun?" asked Mueller on Friday while questioning Wells about what he saw after the gunfire ended and the lights came back on.

Wells said that he only recalled seeing "J" put the gun back onto his waist as he walked back up the stairs after trying to calm down an unruly crowd congregated outside the door, many of whom still had friends inside.

Wells also admitted he never saw "J" point or re-holster the weapon after the shooting.

Mueller also showed other prosecution exhibits, including the baggy athletic shorts Wells wore on the night of the shooting, and a lightweight black jacket authorities have said the guns were wrapped in when they were found in October buried in back of a home on Bridge Street, not far from where the slaying occurred.

The prosecutor highlighted the testimony of several prosecution witnesses, including two men who said they saw "J" at the bottom of the steps pass a long-barrelled revolver to Wells.

He dismissed their testimony as "completely inaccurate."

Wells also disputed the account of another prosecution witness who told jurors that he made it back inside the stairwell just in time to pull his friend to safety before the shots rang out.

Mueller accused Wells of being deceptive as he was when he told a city police detective after being detained that "everybody knows me as James," even though most people in Schenectady knew him by his nickname, "H-O." Mueller insisted that he knew the investigator was questioning him about the Stanley murder and "he didn't want to be H-O" anymore because his name was being mentioned by eyewitnesses.

"I wouldn't call them deception, I'm nervous," Wells said.

He insisted that he fled Schenectady after the shooting because he didn't shoot anyone and didn't want to be involved in a police investigation.

The defense rested its case Friday and closing statements are likely to be delivered Monday before Visiting Schenectady County Judge Michael Coccoma gives the jury its legal instructions and the panel begins deliberating.

Wells also is charged with four counts of weapons possession, reckless endangerment, unlawful imprisonment and tampering with evidence, plus three counts of misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child. He faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of murder.